Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Republican Record on Border Security

After months of failing to reach a decision on immigration reform, Republican leaders are now planning to pass a smaller scale initiative dealing with just border security. They hope this will divert attention away from their inability to reach an agreement on comprehensive immigration reform.

While it is critical that our country pass border security legislation, I want to know why it took Republicans so long to recognize the critical need for more border patrol agents, more immigration enforcement agents, and more surveillance technologies at the border.

Take a minute to look at the Republican Party's record on border security:

1. 2002 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill - Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to offer an amendment that would have included $223 million for immigration and border security, including: 790 additional agents for the border, machine readable visas machines at US Consulates and additional detention facilities at the borders.

3. 2005 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill - Republicans blocked a Democratic effort that would have increased border security funding by $750 million, inspection technology funding from $250 million to $415 million, and raised funding for border agents and inspector staffing from $214 million to $3.4 billion. The measure would have also increased funding for the Container Security Initiative from $86 million to $212 million, raised funding for air operations security by $100 million, and increased funding for immigration and customs investigative staff by $100 million for 1,000 additional agents.

4. 2005 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill - Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to send the report back to conference with instructions to increase funding for border security by $284 million, to add 550 additional border patrol agents, and to add 200 additional immigration investigators and unmanned aeriel vehicles. Funding for these was not included in the conference report.